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SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XVI. No. 4(l8. 



plans to the scientific society or college to 

 which they belong, and that, on approval 

 of the society or college, the plan of re- 

 search be submitted to the trustees of the 

 Carnegie Institution and, if approved by 

 the trustees, a grant of money be made to be 

 spent in any way needed by the investi- 

 gator himself and at his own discretion. 

 He can judge better than any one else 

 how the money can be spent to advantage. 

 The only requirement should be that he 

 should give a detailed account of the ex- 

 penditure at stated intervals, and these ac- 

 counts should be open to public inspection. 

 It may be found, however, that the most 

 competent investigators will object to dis- 

 closing plans which they may not be able to 

 execute and also object to the attitude of 

 beggars. 



A second plan would be for the trus- 

 tees of the Carnegie fund to send state- 

 ments to certain well-knowTi colleges and 

 scientific societies, and say that certain 

 fiinds are available for research in certain 

 departments of science, furnish us the best 

 available man who is willing to 'do this 

 work. Then give that man perfect free- 

 dom as to the how and why within the 

 limits of the funds available for the special 

 purpose. This would be similar to scholar- 

 ship endoManent Avhich Professor Cattell 

 recommends, except that I would not make 

 it contingent on the attainment of any given 

 college degree unless it be some special de- 

 gree based on success in original work. 

 Unfortunately a college degree is not a test 

 of capacity for research. Huxley is re- 

 ported to have said that he would have been 

 flioored by a civil service examination, and 

 Darwin was not considered a brilliant 

 student at school. The brilliant work of 

 Faraday would have been lost to the Royal 

 Institution if its support had only been 

 given to doctors of philosophy. 



If neither of these plans is considered 

 feasible or sufScient, then I think the en- 



dowed laboratory, observatory or institu- 

 tion in each department of science should 

 be of very moderate cost and be considered 

 merely the workshop of the investigator. 

 This plan might be found the most feasible 

 way of obtaining investigators because it 

 would suggest permanency of work and 

 arouse pride in the institution; but I wish 

 to urge that in all cases the institution 

 should be considered only an appendage to 

 the investigator, and no great amount of 

 money should be absorbed in its construc- 

 tion. As Dewar pointed out in his recent 

 address before the British Association for 

 the Advancement of Science the remark- 

 able work of the Royal Institution of Lon- 

 don has been carried on at a very small 

 cost. 



Henby Helm Clayton. 



Professor Cattell 's article in a previ- 

 ous number of Science contains many ad- 

 mirable suggestions as to what the Car- 

 negie Institution might do for the advance- 

 ment of science, especially where he shows 

 the need of a fund to pay the expenses of 

 the cooperation of this country in inter- 

 national undertakings of scientific charac- 

 ter, and of more substantial aid to indi- 

 vidual investigators than the small prizes 

 and fellowships that are granted at present 

 by learned societies and universities. But 

 he seems to take for granted that the Car- 

 negie Institution will confine itself to what 

 is called 'science' in a narrow sense, to the 

 exclusion of the humanities and of applica- 

 tions of science. This can hardly be the 

 intention of the founder of the Institution 

 and of its trustees. The other branches of 

 knowledge, especially the humanities, are 

 certainly as important for the welfare of 

 man and as worthy of support as pure sci- 

 ence, while they have infinitely less re- 

 sources in the way of endo\vment of 

 research. It seems to me that if the trus- 

 tees of the Carnegie Institution intend to 



